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CONTENTS

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE:
THE PROGRAM , 3

The New Music Champion Award, 4
The Envelope, Please, 4

THE HONOREES, 5

ALL ON BOARD, 6

LIVE EVENTS
(March 4 to May 27, 2003)

Clothed in a Redemptive Tale (Paulk on Heggie), 10
When Everyone Benefits (BLC on the Cassatt, Larsen), 10
Nightstallions? (Kroll on Rorem, et al), 11
 Featuring a “No-nonsense” Violinist (Patella on Greg Harrington), 12
More Thoughts on War and Peace (BLC on Hoover, et al), 12
Fresh to the Ear (BLC), 13
“Willie” or Won’t He (Pehrson pm Joshura Fried), 13
Separating Wheat from Chaff (Kra on), 13
Tribute to a Polymath (Pehrson on Kupferman), 14
Serious Fund at Carnegie Hall (Kroll), 15
Quite a Concert in Store for Us (Pehrson on Carter) , 16
A New Kind of Recital (O'Neal), 16
An Eclectic Retrospective (Snellgrove), 17

DOTTED NOTES from …

Kroll, Pehrson, BLC, 17

LEGATO NOTES:

More on Board, 19
NMYE at the Ripe Age of 30 (BLC), 19
George Crumb and Black Angels (Burwasser), 20
On the History of Composers Concordance (Pehrson), 21

THE SCOREBOARD:
Occidental Accidentals (Drogin), 22

THE CINEMA;
The Story of the Weeping Camel (BLC), 23

RECORDINGS:

Mixing History and Mystery Electronically (BLC on Martin Gotfrit), 24
Using Vibrato Effectively (Auerbach-Brown on Krenek), 24
A “Bridge” to Grechaninov (Calabrese on Neva Pilgrim), 25
Hark, Some Glorious Quotes (Calabrese on John Rutter), 25

RECENT RELEASES, 25

COMPOSER INDEX, 25

SPEAKING OUT!, 27

BRAVI TO …, 27

RECENTLY DEPARTED, 27

THE PUZZLE PAGE:
The Diagramless Takes Stage, 30

Featuring a "No-nonsense" Violinist

By Fred Patella ©2004

Arvo Pärt: Fratres ~~ Jorge Sosa: Capricho para solo violin ~~ Olivier Messiaen: Louange a L'Immortalite de Jesus. Gregory Harrington, violin; Christopher Cooley, piano. Merkin Concert Hall. March 28th .

The program presented by Gregory Harrington included a fine representation of violin compositional technique from Bach on. Unfortunately, this reviewer was unable to stay for the works played after intermission which included Bach and Brahms and can therefore offer nothing about those performances.

Harrington opened his program with the furious bowing called for in Pärt's Fratres, a for-midable musical announcement asserting Harrington a "no-nonsense" violinist from the very start. These stable rapid bowing patterns are little disguise for the fact that its real challenges are in the elongated dynamics that were well paced by Harrington. Pärt's comprehensible construction was followed by something less so, Sosa's Capricho para solo violin that offered a delightfully lyrical second movement yet seemed to have missed the mark otherwise in its first and third movements. Although this expressive slow movement alerted the listener to a depth of artistry in both composer and performer that should encourage continued investigation of both. This was a defining moment in the recital illustrating Harrington's gifts both thoughtful lyricist and serious technician.

Messiaen's Louange a L'Immortalite de Jesus gave Harrington his chance also to be warm, engaging a listener with an array of technical and lyrical splendor. Christopher Cooley did a championship job with his work in the Pärt and Messaien (no piano part in the Sosa) revealing a refined and reliable style. A fine and supportive musician, Cooley's balanced technique is a real enhancer and one hopes to hear more of him.

[Ed. Note: It is sad that our last Schwann catalog, (one of the last ever) listed no CD entries for the Messiaen "Louange." But there is a recording of Pärt's Fratre #2 for violin (assuming this is the piece Fred is reviewing) played by Gidon Kremer.]